Lake County, OH – On Monday September 28, 2015, Laketran’s CFO Lisa Colling was presented with the “Ohio Auditor of State Award with Distinction,” by Rebecca Widowski of the Auditor of State’s Office. Colling was presented with the award at the Laketran Committee of the Whole meeting.

It is the 19^th consecutive year Laketran received an unqualified opinion with no material citations, material weaknesses, significant deficiencies, Single Audit findings, or any questioned costs.  This is the best opinion available for this type of audit.

To earn a “clean” audit report and receive an award, agencies must file timely financial reports in the form of a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) that meets strict standards of the Government Finance Officers Association.

Colling issued Laketran’s CAFR, which was completed by James G. Zupka, CPA, Inc. The audit covered the 2014 fiscal year, ending December 2014.  The operating cost for the agency in 2014 was $12.2 million.

“Our staff and leadership team work very closely to be prudent and thorough in our financial practices.  These audit findings confirm that we are being good stewards of the public funding that comes from our local sales tax levy, the State of Ohio, federal grants and our riders,” commented Colling.

Nationally, Laketran has also received the Distinguished Budget Presentation Award from the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) for the 2014 budget. This award reflects Laketran’s commitment to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting.

 “I am very proud of Laketran’s management team for these great accomplishments.  It supports our objective of accountability to our customers and the community.  We are doing everything we can within our financial means to bring high quality public transportation services to Lake County residents,” Laketran board president, Brian Falkowski said.

New release from Ohio Auditor of State can be found here: https://ohioauditor.gov/news/pressreleases/Details/2591